Nectar in a Sieve (Signet Classics) by Kamala Markandaya Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Nectar in a Sieve (Signet Classics)
Book Review: Nectar in a Sieve Review
Summary: 4 Stars
Nectar in a Sieve is a book about loss and rough times in an Indian community, and about how a woman and her family manage to overcome it. It actually made me cry! I would recommend it to those who like books with a deeper meaning than what it may seem. The one thing I found hard to keep up with was that this book does not tell how much time elapses between the events. But overall, it was an excellent story.
By the fifth or sixth chapter, I thought that I had this story all figured out. However, I was incredibly surprised by how the book ended. If you want to know what happens to Rukmani, Kenny, Kunthi, and everyone else, you are going to have to read the book!
Book Review: An emotional book that I will remember...
Summary: 4 Stars
The idea behind Nectar in a Sieve, by Kamala Markandaya is about a poor family that goes through many hardships. Nectar in a Sieve was one of the books that I was actually engaged in. Kamala Markandaya tells a wonderful storry about this family that got the short stick in life.
I would definitely recommend Nectar in a Sieve because it is a book that hooked me. Also I became very conected to the characters. Kamala Markandaya did a wonderful job in telling this story.
Book Review: Indian version of "Good Earth", soul-searching and compelling
Summary: 5 Stars
This is the story of Rukmani, an Indian woman who endures hardship and misfortune, yet is blessed with a loving husband and family. They struggle as tenant farmers, beholden to the demands of the landlord, the vagaries of the weather and the greed of the moneylender. Hardworking and optimistic despite their circumstances they cling to the land and rejoice in the growth of their crops and garden. In the beginning, times were good and there was hope of saving money, eventually buying a plot of land, as well as marrying their daughter to a good family. However the arrival of the tannery changes the landscape, corrupts their children, inflates the prices of goods, and ultimately the land is sold from under them. Famine causes their daughter to prostitute herself to feed their youngest son who ends up dying. Rukmani and Nathan end up destitute in a big city, working in a stone quarry and getting fed at the temple, trying to save money to return to the land that is no longer tenantable by them. However the land is their home, their hopes. And even though the story is extremely sad, Rukmani, the orphan Puli, and daughter Ira and son Selvam are reunited, with some hope for the future. The white man Kenny who has helped Rukmani's family throughout her life has trained Selvam to be a medical assistant and he has a job at the hospital that was built by charitable donations Kenny has rounded up. Even though Rukmani does not understand what would motivate people in other countries who have never seen them to give money so that widows do not die on the street (as happened to Rukmani's only friend), she is grateful that her family has a future, and that she could keep her promises to Puli who is healed from his leprosy.
In some sense, even though the ending of the story is sad in the physical sense, in constrast to the Good Earth, it ends with optimism and hope and with the remnants of the family who stick together and support each other.
Book Review: an Indian version of Grapes of Wrath
Summary: 1 Stars
I recently had to read this book for school and figured that it shouldn't be too bad a read, it was short. The story became grueling, however, as nothing important happened. There is no resolution and no conflict worth caring about. It has gotten great reviews but as a line from the Fountainhead states: "What achievement is there for a critic in praising a good play? Non whatever...But if a critic is able to put over a perfectly worthless play-ah you do perceive the difference (470)." Here is a case where a lot of fuss has been made over a book that never should have made it to the schools nevermind a best seller's list. I am a very avid reader and I have read some amazing books. This was not one of them. There was little character development, so by the end you cared as much for Ruku as you did in the begining. It is about people just trying to survive. I know, that is all we can try to do right? Even if that is the case, it is nice to read about someone who does more than live, someone that you can look up to. If you loved Grapes of Wrath, read this book. If you couldn't finish Steinbeck, don't pick this up. Instead try a book that contains a real hero, not an anti-hero. If you don't know what an anti-hero is, read Death of a Salesman: Willy Loman is the epitome of anti-heroes. For a heroic book worth reading, try Ayn Rand, Marion Zimmer Bradley, Margaret George, or Anne McCaffery and avoid Nectar at all costs.Book Review: One of my best reads
Summary: 5 Stars
Well, in looking at some of the reviews, (I only skimmed the bad ones), I know this is one of the best books I have read. It took me to another time, another place on this earth that is so far different than mine. I could not imagine the poverty, starvation, and the inablility to ask for help, through pride and not wanting to beg, or knowing that death by starvation was accepted! There was clearly a lack of survival skills that I found frustrating. I could not watch my son die without doing some things extraordinary to save him. The daughter, who prostituted herself, had the right idea, because the only other option was death for her and her loved ones. The mother could have gone to her doctor friend, but did not. And the good doctor expressed his dismay at the people, who seemed to be so mired in poverty they could not think clearly of how to get out of it. The book reminded me of A Fine Balance, which I read a couple of years ago, but this one was more intimate. Another thing I found intriguing was that this was written in the 50's, a time when so many authors were writing wonderful things, but I had never before heard of this book! I wish I had read it long ago. I found it not one bit boring, but enriching and thought provoking.